In late September, the pastoral staff of Heyuan CCC&TSPM paid a three-day visit to the local church in Xuwen, a small county in Zhanjiang, Guangdong.
Located in the southernmost part of the mainland and serves as the throat land to Hainan, the county has a population of 730,000. Currently, there are 31 churches, thirty thousand believers, nine pastors, four elders and seven preachers in Xuwen.
During this journey, the co-workers from the church of Heyuan visited seven local churches and the county's Christian training center. After the communication with each church, the team came to realize that it has not been easy for the church of Xuwen to reach this situation so far.
In the 1980s, the churches there were made of thatch and the thatched roofs were often blown away by the frequent typhoons happened in the area. Then the local believers built a tile-roofed church which still couldn't bear the typhoons and they almost became dangerous buildings due to the weakened structure. Despite being in poverty, the members reconstructed buildings as churches. Now, there are 24 church buildings in the area.
When the team arrives at Nanliao Church situated in Xinliao Island, the largest island in Xuwen, it has been such a miracle to have built a church that costed more than 6 million yuan within 5 years on a poor and isolated island. The church can seat 1300 people. It is great that almost all the islanders have converted to Christianity, so the island is called "Gospel Island".
The team then moves to Houhai Church, knowing that the entire population of a surrounding village with over 500 residents believes in the Lord. Moreover, the church constructed a 1000-meter long cement concrete road to solve the road problem, which wins praises from the locals.
The county's Christian training center is still being built into a seven-story building covering 320 m2 as the training base in West Guangdong.
It is also worthy to mention a local lighthouse. The history records that a French Christian couple built two lighthouses in Hainan and Xuwen. They left their home across the ocean and stayed in such a distant county to guard the house for 30 years to provide guidance for the ships and boats sailing in the sea.
